Friday, March 11th, completed the twenty-eighth day of the Georgia General Assembly’s 2011 legislative session. Two of the biggest and most important issues facing Georgia and local communities are the immigration bill and the HOPE Scholarship Program. I, along with a number of rural legislators, are making a strong effort to insure that the immigration bill, when it is finalized, does not have the unintended effect of creating a beauracy with complicated regulations and unnecessary paperwork placed on farmers, that would make it difficult for them to hire immigrant labor with legal status. Legal immigrants have provided required labor for the blueberry and cotton industry as well as other types of farming. This has a direct impact on our local businesses and area economy. There will be more on this important issue as it unfolds this week, in our next report.

Regardless, if you are a parent or student, you have probably been following the funding issues facing Georgia’s HOPE programs. As you know, the House passed House Bill 326 to preserve and strengthen HOPE for today’s college students and to guarantee its future for those who will follow in the coming years. Last week the State Senate debated and passed HB 326 with some minor changes. There were some protestors that were tossed out of the Senate gallery due to their disrupting of the debate over overhauling the HOPE Scholarship. The House and Senate have now agreed on the final version of HB 326 and it is scheduled to be signed by the Governor the middle of this week.

Under House Bill 326, beginning this fall, students receiving the HOPE scholarship will receive 90 percent of current tuition levels; however, HOPE will not cover double-digit tuition increases at some colleges. The HOPE Scholarship students attending public colleges, universities, and technical colleges, will receive the award based on available lottery revenue, not tuition rates. The HOPE scholarship students attending private colleges and universities will be receiving $3,600 for their tuitions. The HOPE Scholarship will still require students to maintain a 3.0 GPA, but students will no longer receive money for books, fees, or remedial classes. In addition, this bill will create the Zell Miller Scholarship, which will offer full tuition to students who graduate from high school with a minimum 3.7 GPA combined with a 1200 SAT score on the math and reading portions. For students to continue receiving the Zell Miller Scholarship, they must maintain a 3.3 GPA. While I voted for HB326, it is my hope that the Governor and the General Assembly will consider future changes to the HOPE Scholarship program that will provide an opportunity for high school students who study and work hard, and do they best they can, but can’t quite reach the 3.0 GPA level, to get a college education. There are a number of high school students who struggle in general academics but do extremely well in pursuing technical education in an area where they have special interests. Unfortunately a significant number of them cannot afford to go to a technical or non-technical college and therefore remain unskilled. Instead of establishing a business of their own, or working for a company in an area where they have special expertise, these individuals are forced to take low paying jobs, or become unemployed and end up as welfare recipients. This scenario creates a greater expense to the state in the long run than providing the right kind of education in the first place. It is my opinion we should consider reorganizing our educational system so that pupils who at any early age who do not do well in subjects such a math, science, history, literature, etc. are guided into a particular area of technical training in which they have an interest and do well. In the long run I believe this approach to education would reduce our unemployment and welfare rolls, thereby boosting the future economy of our state and increasing the standard of living for all Georgians.

The final version of HB 326 will provide loans to cover the difference between the amount of tuition and the HOPE award.

In addition, the Student Finance Commission, which oversees HOPE, has been allotted $10 million for HOPE loans to help students. This is a needs-based loan, not HOPE, that carries a 1 percent interest rate. The maximum award that a student can receive is $10,000. If the total student demand exceeds the $10 million loan amount, the commission will use scoring sheets to determine who gets the loans and how much they get. Students are eligible to be considered for this loan if they graduate high school with at least a 2.5 GPA and maintain at least a 2.0 GPA in college. These loans, which carry a 1 percent interest rate, will be forgiven to those students that go on to teach math, science, technology, or engineering in Georgia public schools; and one year of the loan will be forgiven for each year that individual spends teaching.

Rev. Carlton Howard from Noah’s Ark Missionary Baptist Church, Waynesboro, GA, addressed the House on February 2, 2011. He told the legislators as they consider legislation affecting Georgians, to keep in mind the wise instruction of Psalm 127, “Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
To reach me you can call 404-656-5105 or 912-614-2077.

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